Doors



Sept. 2, 1958 Filed May 10, 1952 F. A. PURDY DOORS l/ 7 /27 #6 ma 7729 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. A. PURDY Sept. 2, 1958 DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 10, 1952 United rates Patent DOORS Frederick A. Purdy, Scarsdale, N. Y.

Application May 10, 1952, Serial No. 287,167

7 Claims. (Cl. 160188) The invention relates to doors, and has particular reference to doors of garages and other building structures.

Objects of the invention are economy in manufacture and warehousing, simplicity in design, and convenience and dependability in use and saving in cost of building construction. Other objects will become apparent in the development of the description.

Drawings A preferred form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of door and mechanism as seen from the line 11 of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a front view as seen by a person outside a garage facing the doorway.

General observation The door consists of a series of slats, preferably horizontal, of extruded plastic, light in weight, so that it requires no counterbalancing means for aid in opening. The slats interconnect by hinge joints shaped in the plastic. They extend from side to side of doorway and are guided by tracks which confine them in vertical series when the door is closed and in horizontal series overhead when the door is open.

The door is shown with a motor drive, and with a clutch to disengage the motor for manual operation, as in the event of failure of electric current supply. The motor drives two gears one either side of doorway. These gears mesh directly into the interiorly formed channels of the slats. Thus the slats require no machining or other treatment to suit them for the gear-drive.

A control-box, containing a power switch and a reversing switch for the motor, controlled by the door when it reaches either fully open or fully closed position, and containing a solenoid to throw the power on, also manual control switches, follow a part of the design shown in my application for closure-operators to be filed May 31, 1952, Serial No. 290,859, now Patent No. 2,758,836 issued August 14, 1956.

The door Each slat, 10, Figure 1, is in the form of a channel of which the web is exposed outside the garage and the flanges point inward, one flange having at its edge (called rod-edge) a round rod integral, and the other flange having its edge curved into a socket-course (called socketedge) to embrace the rod-edge of the next adjoining slat. The slats are put together, into a series that comprises the door, by the rod-edge of one being slipped endwise into the socket-edge of another. The socket-edge is so shaped that the rod-edge cannot escape from it except by being drawn out endwise. Connected slats are free to turn hinge-wise in moving from vertical to horizontal or the reverse. The close fits by rod-edges into socket-edges hold the series of slats so that it is non-extensible, and the close contacts between adjoining flanges resist compression within the series making practicable a pressure 2,850,088 Patented Sept. 2, 1958 applied by hand or power to put the door into open position, and affording a resistance to partial opening of a door locked by the immobility of the worm wheel, later observed, against the worm.

A water-drip fin 10' is integral with each slat..

For manual lifting, hand-holes 15, Fig. l, are provided through the plastic, covered by flaps of rubber or other material 15' which retract to close the holes when the fingers are removed.

The slats that make up the door are free-sliding endwise in their rod-and-socket joints. There is some clearance between the ends of these slats and the respective guide-tracks that confine them. In manual operation of the door a means is needed to prevent the slats from taking a slant out of level, and out of square with the guides, if a lift at one hand-hole were stronger than at the other, which could set up friction within the guide-channels and impede door-movement from vertical to horizontal. The means of holding the slats from thus slipping out of parallel with lintel is the cross-shaft 65 and its gears 60 and 60'.

Vertical guide-tracks 11 are fastened by screws 13, Figure 1, one track on each jarnb 5 and 5 of doorway, and these provide guide-channels at the exterior surface of the doorway wall, so that the door affords full end-room within the garage.

This is of particular value. Earlier overhead door designs put the door on the interior surface of the doorway wall, constricting garage length so that reconstruction is required for todays longer cars. The present door can be applied to standing construction to lengthen garage space by the thickness of wall plus thickness of door and thickness of frame, adding about a foot to the garage length, and without using a door that kicks outward at a car standing near it. In new construction it affords a saving in cubic footage in that utilizable garage length may embrace space through to the outside, rather than the inside, of the doorway wall. A similar saving is afforded in cubic footage overhead in new construction. The door lies at the level of the lintel. Most overhead doors require headroom of about a foot above the lintellevel from vertical to horizontal.

Saving of cubic footage is in three directions: height of ceiling, length up to door, and width wall-to-wall. Increases in widths of cars year to year, and scraping of door-jambs by cars, tend to make obsolete a door of eight-foot width, and to bring the nine-foot door into more general use, practically corresponding to width wallto-wall at many garages. In order that greater width and cubic footage in new garage construction may be held to a minimum, the door-drive motor and mechanism must be brought within the confines of door-width. The motor and its drive mechanism cannot be put outside the end of a drive-shaft across the doorway, it must be put within the door-width limitsthe drive-shaft must go through the drive-mechanism. This requirement is met in the motor-drive shortly to be observed.

A further value in having doorway breadth brought to the limit of the garage side walls is the passage-area afforded to persons where the carextends into the space between door-jambs.

The horizontal guide-tracks 12 are fastened by screws 13' to horizontal stringers 16 suitably supported from wall or ceiling on each side of the garage. Vertical and horizontal guide tracks are formed the same, this form appearing in the end views of the horizontal tracks 12 in the upper corners of Figure 2. The slats seal against weather by having their'ends fitting closely up to the webs the door and tracks. This may extend downward to the level at which the door-slats turn inward of the garage to go overhead. Preferably, where access by vehicles to the rated doorway height is needed, a flap 18 of rubber riveted to the angle-piece 17 extends down to this level. End-pieces 19, one either side of. doorway, riveted to 11 and 17, complete the closure against weather.

Each jamb is sawn ofi at the line 7, Fig. 1, to admit the door, sliding from outside to inside. In most construction, where the doorway is built before jarnbs are put into place, and in standing construction, it is sufficient to anchor jarnbs and header securely to doorway to compensate for the disjointing of jarnbs from header. But, where needed, a steel angle-plate 8 may be used as shown to substitute for the direct jointure of jarnbs and header.

To prevent rubbing by vehicles directly against vertical tracks and possible bending of the tracks, scutf-boards 9 are put on either side of doorway extending a few feet upward from the sill.

Where the door is to be used without motor drive, a curved inner connector can be used opposite the connector 14, Fig. l, in place of gear 60 to guide and support the door as it turns from vertical to horizontal.

Motor drive Electric motor 30 on rubber mat 31 rests on shelf 32 which is fastened to door-jamb and supported from stringer 16 by hanger 34. On an adapter-bracket 35 bolted to one end of motor a tubular gear-shaft 40 is carried, within which turns a clutch-shaft 41, Fig. 2. A worm wheel 42 is fastened to the gear shaft by a stud 43 threaded through the hub of the worm wheel and the wall of the gear-shaft and suitably held as by nut 46 and locknut 46'. Similarly a clutch element 55 is fastened to the gear-shaft on one outer side of the bracket 35 and a thrust collar 47 is fastened to the gear-shaft on the other outer side of the bracket 35.

Pending the machining of the bracket 35 in precision practice, adjustment of the worm-wheel to mesh precisely with worm 45 is effected by insertion or removal of shims 48, Fig. 2. Worm 45 is pinned to the rotor shaft 50 of the motor 30. Standard electric motors have a slight endplay in rotor and shaft, and are not normally made to stand appreciable end-thrust outward or inward of the motor frame. A thrust-bearing cage 51 is bolted to bracket 35 to confine the shaft and worm. Between the hub-of worm and the motor-frame two washers 52 (Fig. I) embrace an oilite thrust-bearing 53 on the rotor shaft 50, and on the same shaft between the bearing cage 51 and outer end of worm 45 is another oilite thrust-bearing 54. Shims 49 at either of the thrust bearings permit of holding the rotor-shaft so that the normal end-play is divided between inward and outward extremes while endwise thrust, inward or outward, occurring in applying the drive by worm upon worm-wheel, is resisted by the oilite thrust-bearings.

This arrangement permits a low cost adaptation of a gear-reduction drive on an ordinary motor which usually sells for a fraction of the cost of a gear-head motor or of a motor and gear-set with flexible coupling. No separate bearings are needed for the worm to hold it in alignment with the worm-wheel. This design makes possible the door-drive shown, having door drive gear-wheels, one at one side of the motor and the other at the other side of the motor, and the motor must set between the doortracks, instead of outside one of the tracks.

Clutch-shaft 41 turns free within gear-shaft 40 and carries at its end rightward in Figure 2 two elements 56 and 57 of a three element clutch, of which the other element 55 has been bolted on gear-shaft 40. Element 57 is bolted by bolts 61 to the door-gear 60 and is pinned at its hub by pin 62 to the clutch-shaft.

Clutch-shaft 41 is confined against creeping leftward of Figure 2 by the springs 59 and against creeping rightward of Figure 2 by a ccllar 58 pinned by pin 58' to the Clutch Clutch element 56 has a jaw 56 at all times engaged within the jaws 57' of element 57, and it has an opposite jaw 56" which engages between the jaws 55 of elements 55. Engagement is effected by compression springs 59, held in pockets in elements 56 and 57, pressing element 56 against element 55. Disengagement is effected by clutch-fork 70 two lugs of which ride in -a groove of element 56, this fork being threaded for a pivoted mounting on thread-s of a stud 71 locked by nuts in a hole of bracket 72 which bracket is bolted to motor shelf 32. Movement of clutch-handle 70 leftward of Figure 2 presses element 56 rightward against springs 59 out of engagement with element 55.

This disengaged position is held by latch 74, which drops to catch a prong 73 pressed through a hole in forkhandle 70'. Latch 74 is mounted pivotally by pin 76 on bracket 77 fastened by screws to door-jamb 5. The.

drop of latch 74 is effected by gravity and may be aided by spring 88.

Disengagement of the clutch by a person within the garage is effected by manual movement leftward of Figure 2 by hand directly upon the handle 70 of the clutch-fork. Engagement is effected by lifting latch 74 directly by hand. These means of clutch operation are sufiicient for a garage that may be entered otherwise than by the main doorway through which the car passes. For a garage that may be entered only through the main door way, a means is provided for disengaging the clutch from outside to permit hand-opening of door, as in the event of failure of electric current supply with the door-closed.

A box 80 is embedded in the wall of garage to one side of the doorway. This box has a cover, not shown, preferably hinged and opened by key in a lock. A bar 81 attaches pivotally by pin 82 to the handle 70' of clutch-fork and extends through a hole in door-jamb 5 into box 80, where it attaches pivotally by pin 83 to lever 85. Lever 85 attaches pivotally by rivet 84 to bracket 86 held by rivets 87 to wall of box 80. A finger-angle 85 is riveted to the free end of lever 85. Movement of lever 85 by hand leftward of Figure 2 effects disengagementof the clutch. Clutch may be re-engaged by finger pres sure upon the bent end of rod 89 which goes from box 80 through a hole in frame 5 to latch 74, in a hole of which latch it is held by cotter-pins 89'. Spring 88 between a cotter pin 89 on rod 89 and a hole in bracket 86 overcomes inertia and friction of rod 89 to positively pull latch 74 into engagement with prong 73 on handle 70' of clutch fork.

Controls Within the box 80 is another box 90 meeting the standards of the National Board of Fire Underwriters and containing terminals of electric wiring to two switches. One of these switches 91 is called a Night Lock switch. When thrown downward it cuts off current to the motor so that the door may not be powerdriven. The door could not be manually operated while clutch is engaged, for the worm-Wheel cannot turn to rotate the worm. The other of the switches 92 is a momentary contact switch, normally open, with handle held in downward position by a spring, and making contact to close a circuit to a solenoid, later observed, to set off the motor drive when the switch-handle is lifted.

Control-box carries parts shown in my application Serial No. 290,859, filed May 31, 1952. It has some improvements such as being removably hung from the motor-shelf 32 and having a bottom-pan 100 removable to bring switches and mechanism away for convenient access.

It has the motor-reversing switch 105 described in the said application, and a solenoid 110, a power-switch 115, a latch 120 pressed by spring 121, for the same purposes as described and claimed in the said application.

Because the design here differs, the construction may be observed. The power-switch 115 is of a miniature design but having a substantial amperage-rating. It is held by strap 117 to bracket 118 riveted to pan 100' and has an insulation strip 119 (Fig. 1) between it and the bracket.

On bracket 118 there is riveted at 124, Fig. 2, a leaf 125 of tempered spring-steel, horizontally extending rightward of Figure 2 past actuating button 115, Fig. 2, of switch 115 and through and beyond a solenoid-clevis 113, Fig. 1. Clevis 113 is fastened by cotter-pin 127 (Fig. 1) to yoke 112 on solenoid plunger 111. It has another cotter-pin 128 which engages leaf 125 to press button 115 of switch 115 to close the switch, and its circuit to the motor, when the solenoid, energized by electric momentary contact switches or other means, draws plunger 111 inward. On this cotter-pin 128 spring 121 attaches, its other end being attached by cotter-pin 129 to latch 120 which latch is pivotally mounted at 131 to bracket 132 riveted to pan 100'. The spring has two functions: (1) to lift latch 120 to engage and hold leaf 125 with button 115 pressed inward of switch 115 to hold the circuit to the motor closed; (2) to retract plunger 111 outward of solenoid 110 when the latch 120 is made to disengage the leaf 125 and release button 115' to open the circuit to the motor to stop the motor.

This disengagement occurs when .a handle 106 of reversing switch 105 swings in either direction. The swing through brings the handle downward upon latch 120 to press the latch into position shown in Figure 1 below the leaf 125.

The handle of reversing-switch is swung leftward of Figure 1 to stop the motor when the door reaches closed position, and rightward of Figure 1 to stop the motor when the door reaches open position.

The handle 106 extends through a slot 101 in the side of box 100 where it enters a hole 135 in shifter 135. Shifter 135 is threaded to fit pivotally on a stud 137 held by lock-nuts 138 either side of the wall of box 100. It reaches up to a point near the door at which contact with it is made by two shifter knees 150 and 151 attached to respective door slats, one knee 150 throwing the top end of shifter 135 rightward of Figure 1 when door reaches closed position and the other knee 151 throwing that end of shifter leftward of Figure 1 when the door reaches open position.

Some rotation of the motor continues by momentum after the current to motor is thrown off. Accordingly, the shifter is given a longer travel at its upper end than at the lower end which throws the switch-handle, the throw-off of current occurring when switch handle reaches the mid-point of its swing-through. Timing of the throw-off of current to avoid undue slamming of the door is afforded by adjustment of the finger 140 (Figure 1) in the upper end of shifter 135. A thimble 141 threaded outside is held by nuts 142 to shifter 135 and is adjustable either to left or right of Figure l as found desirable. A spring 143 embracing finger 140 and fastened at one end to the finger and at its other end to the thimble is strong enough to effect the throwing of the switch, but yields in either direction with the finger for a prescribed distance of door movement after the current is cut off.

A terminal strip 102 for wiring is provided within the control-box. The lower wiring connections on this may be unfastened when the pan 100' is taken off.

Control switches mounted by the clamping device of their manufacturer, a night lock switch 103 and a momentary contact switch 104, are provided in the end of the box when installed at a garage having an access door other than the main door through which the car passes, such a garage not necessarily being provided with the box 80 for control from outside the garage.

It is contemplated that similar control switches may be located within a residence at any passageway used in reaching the garage.

Wiring The number 'of night lock switches will bear upon how many of the terminals will be used at the terminalstrip 102. The means used for setting 013? the motordrive will bear upon this as well. Any practical settingoif means is contemplated for use with the motor-driven door, whether by radio-Waves, sound-waves, tire-contact, trip-wire, post-switch, etc.

The wiring for the motor and controls here used is shown in the wiring-diagram of the above mentioned application. Electric current supply is brought to a terminal in the control-box, thence to a night-lock switch and back to another terminal in the control box, thence to any other night-lock switch, and back to another terminal in the control box, thence to the power-switch and back to another terminal, thence to one end of the reversing switch. The four wires from the reversing switch to the motor go through other terminals, this motor wiring and the reversing of the motor being described in that application. At each night-lock switch the power current is branched off by a jumper wire to the adjoining momentary contact switch, from which a third wire goes to a terminal that is connected to the solenoid, and from thesolenoid the current is wired to a neutral terminal. Similarly a setting off device would have a three-wire cable from the control-box, one carrying power supply to operate the device, a second wire neutral, and a third through a relay or the equivalent to the solenoid.

Operation Where a motor-drive is not used, the door is lifted by hand, the fingers being inserted into the hand holes 15. The weight is greater at the beginning and diminishes as the door progressively rests its weight on the tracks overhead.

Sagging of the door in overhead position is resisted by the flanges of the slats which extend vertically downward, these flanges being reinforced by each rod-edge and socket-edge.

The door holds in open position by its friction on the tracks 12.

It is closed by hand, reversing the opening operation.

With the motor-drive, the door is actuated to open and close by momentary lifting of the handle of a momentary contact switch such as 92 or 104. Electric current then flows to energize the solenoid 110, causing plunger 111 to draw in to pull leaf against button 115' of power switch 115, supplying current to motor 30 to actuate the motor, rotating rotor-shaft 50 in the required direction to open the door or close it according to the positioning of the handle of 106 of reversing switch 105 as effected by one or other of the shifter knees 150 and 151 when in the preceding operation of door the door was brought to a stop. if the preceding operation closed the door, knee 150 will have moved shifter to throw handle 106 to the left of Figure v1, that being the position of handle 106 which provides that the next direction of rotation of rotor-shaft 50 will be effective to drive the door open. If the preceding operation opened the door, knee 151 will have moved shifter 135 to throw handle 106 to the right of Figure 1, that being the position of handle 106 which provides that the next direction of rotation of rotor shaft 50 will be effective to drive the door closed. Reversing the direction of rotation of motor by reversing its field leads through switch 105 is described in the above application.

The rotation of rotor-shaft 50 drives worm 45 to rotate worm-wheel 4'2, gear-shaft 40, clutch shaft 41, and crossshaft 65, to turn door-gears 60 and 60', meshing into door-slats 10, to lift or lower the door.

When desired to open or close the door by hand, as in the "event of failure of electric power supply, the gearshaft 40 may be disengaged from its drive upon clutchshaft 41 and cross shaft 65, by disengagement of clutch element 55 from clutch element 56, effected, as already described, by manual movement of handle 70 of clutch fork 70. As described, the clutch may be re-engaged by lifting the latch 74, permitting springs 59 to press clutch jaw 56" into engagement with clutch jaws 55".

I claim:

1. An overhead door construction for a garage having a doorway opening provided in a wall thereof, said wall having a passageway therethrough at each side of said opening, each passageway extending laterally from said opening at the top thereof and communicating with the opening, a vertical track secured to the outwardly facing surface of said wall along each side of said opening from the bottom thereof to the bottom of the corresponding passageway, said vertical tracks providing, at said outwardly facing surface of said wall, channels having their open sides facing toward each other across the doorway opening, a horizontal track extending inwardly into said garage at each side of said opening just below the top thereof and in alignment with the corresponding passage- 'way, a door comprising a large number of relatively upper. ends of said vertical tracks towards the adjacent ends of said horizontal tracks and vice versa in the course of opening and closing said door.

2. An overhead door construction as set forth in claim 1 in which said supporting and guiding means comprises a. wheel at each side of said doorway arranged for rotation about a horizontal axis at substantially the level of the upper ends of said vertical tracks.

4. An overhead door construction as set forth in claim 1 in which the width of each of said slats is less than the depth of said doorway opening from the outer to the inner side of said wall.

5. An overhead door construction as set forth in claim 2 in which the radius of said wheel at each side of the doorway is less than the depth of said doorway opening from the outer to the inner side of said wall.

6. An overhead door construction as set forth in claim 1 having a member secured to said wall adjacent the top of said opening and extending completely across the same and downwardly in front of said opening to substantially the level of the upper ends of said vertical tracks to provide a canopy over the door and the upper ends of the vertical tracks.

7. A door comprising a series of slats in channel form horizontally disposed and interconnected, means to guide and hold the series vertically when door is closed, means to guide the series into horizontal position overhead to open the door, gears having teeth both faces of which fit against the sides of certain of the channels of the series to drive the door open and closed, a shaft across the doorway carrying said gears one either side of doorway,

a worm-wheel located between the gears and through which the shaft extends, a motor driven worm in mesh with the worm-wheel, a clutch on said shaft between the w'o'rm wheel and one of the gears, and means to engage and disengage said clutch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 655,965 Ebner Aug. 14, 1900 897,990 McCloud Sept. 8, 1908 1,202,964 Bumbarger Oct. 31, 1916 1,906,677 Waldman May 2, 1933 1,962,475 Blodgett June 12, 1934 1,972,695 Staude Sept. 4, 1934 2,052,911 Weathers Sept. 1, 1936 2,110,231 McCloud Mar. 8, 1938 2,170,021 Greegor Aug. 22, 1939 2,188,509 Kavanagh et a1 Ian. 30, 1940 2,378,262 Vallen June 12, 1945 2,612,371 Hall Sept. 30, 1952 2,670,065 Stevens Feb. 23, 1954 

